


Arneb

by tehJai



Series: Lepus [3]
Category: Final Fantasy XIV
Genre: Bodily Fluids, Communication, F/M, Face-Sitting, Male-Female Friendship, Patch 5.0: Shadowbringers Spoilers, Patch 5.3: Reflections in Crystal Spoilers, Vaginal Sex, complicated feelings about a catboy, mutual possessiveness, really raunchy romantic business
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-30
Updated: 2021-01-30
Packaged: 2021-03-16 17:47:34
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,610
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29086338
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tehJai/pseuds/tehJai
Summary: Arneb – α Leporis (Alpha Leporis)Alpha Leporis, the brightest star in Lepus, is a lower luminosity yellow-white supergiant star with an apparent magnitude of 2.589. It is approximately 2,200 light years distant from the solar system.The star’s proper name, Arneb, comes from the Arabic arnab, which means “the hare.”Alpha Leporis is a very old, dying star which is either still expanding or has passed through the supergiant stage and is in the process of contracting and heating up. It is expected to end its life in a supernova explosion.The battle is won, and at the end of the journey, Tiona has one last task to complete, and one last thing to finalize with Urianger.  She struggles with the former while embracing the latter.
Relationships: Urianger Augurelt/Warrior of Light
Series: Lepus [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1720030
Comments: 14
Kudos: 21





	Arneb

It was interesting, Tiona mused, how _different_ all of Norvrandt seemed to be after the last vestiges of the unsundered Ascians were gone, and the sun was finally, without interruption or reversion, allowed to set on this star.

The Wandering Stairs was a different place in the early mornings _anyway_ , however. Gone were the taps and kegs of mead and ale, replaced by flat griddles and boilers. The air around the establishment was filled with the scents of browned butter, grease, charred meat, baking bread and frying potatoes. Whether by accident or design, the scent of breakfast _always_ wafted its way across the green spaces to imbue The Pendants with the tantalizing promise of a good start to one’s day. The place was crowded, with workers and families and a pair of elderly Ronso loudly arguing about _the kids these days_ ; nonetheless, every morning that Tiona awoke with the dawn, the clarion call of food usually had her leaving her room and padding across the way to grab a stool of her own.

What an odd series of events that had occurred: the resurgence of Elidibus and his defeat at the expense of the Crystal Exarch. His preoccupation with self-sacrifice seemed to have saved the day – but did not immediately result in the Scions being sent back home, as was theorized. Instead, they were left to fall back on the theoretical soul transfer procedure that the Exarch, Beq Lugg, and Urianger had all helped devise. Then, she and the Scions had travelled all over Norvrandt to get their affairs in order, and now they faced this last full day together on this world.

With luck, tomorrow they’d wrap up any lingering affairs here and then they would all go home. She knew she would be able to come back, but it looked more and more as though the trip would definitely be one-way for the rest of the Scions.

There was a lot to think about and accomplish, and she relished the chance to start this day off on the right foot. She placed an order for an egg sandwich (with cheese and whatever meat the chef was frying up on the griddle) and some fruit juice, and couldn’t help but lift her head, nose twitching as she breathed in the delicious scents surrounding her. When her order arrived, she spent a few seconds rubbing her hands in gleeful anticipation before picking the slightly too-large and definitely too-greasy concoction up in two hands and taking a sizable first bite.

“So I imagine you’ll spend the night in Il Mheg, then? We’ll convene in the morning to go home?”

Thancred’s sudden appearance and inquiry immediately put Tiona on the _back_ foot. Closing her eyes, she pulled back from her meal and spent a few seconds chewing, still staring resolutely forward but with one large blue ear cocked in the man’s direction and a growing blush forming across her cheeks.

Of all the people that she and Urianger travelled with, she figured it would be Thancred who would discern the relationship the two of them were attempting to create in the midst of all of Norvrandt’s troubles and in the race against time to see all the Scions safely home. She still wasn’t prepared for the question – she had never really bothered to think about what the others would think of it. In fact, the two of them had taken pains not to show it.

But the Scions, each in their own way, were brilliant people, and Thancred doubtless saw the pattern the two of them took: see to whatever immediate crisis caught their attention, and then travel, together, outside of the city and _disappear_ again until there was something else to see to.

The rava opened her eyes and swallowed, dipping her head in a slight nod. “Aye,” she said, turning to look at the white-haired hyur man and only managing to catch his eye for a few seconds before the heat in her face became unbearable, “we will be.”

He chuckled softly and then sat down on the bar stool next to hers. “Given how _quickly_ you two took the piss out of me that night after the Tempest, I figured something was going on between you and Urianger.”

Tiona let out a strangled, somewhat affirmative noise, and pushed her sandwich plate to one side, laying her head down on the bar, relaxing her ears so that they drooped down and obscured her face. “Was it that obvious?”

She felt Thancred patting her shoulder and let her ears perk back up to look at him. He was grinning. “Perhaps not to everyone else, but – well, I’m a quicker study than I appear to be. So, how long has this gone on for?”

At that moment, Tiona wanted to shrivel up and disappear. “...Since the night _before_ the Tempest.” She found that she did not care for all of this _attention_ Thancred was giving her about a thing that both she and Urianger recognized was presently very tenuous.

“Hah. I’d wondered where he’d gone that night…” Sitting back with a sigh, Thancred fixed Tiona with an earnest expression. “I knew he missed you terribly; he’d said that much to me. But I’m not inclined to interfere in the romantic entanglements of friends. And I didn’t know about… what was planned by him and the Exarch.”

Tiona allowed herself a small smile. “If _only_ you’d known. And interfered. We’d have gotten more _time_.”

“Blame Urianger for it,” he said, chuckling. “For all the _words_ that man likes to use, he sometimes has difficulties actually making a point. Or saying what he feels.”

Shaking her head, she socked Thancred in the shoulder. "I'm no better. I could have just as easily said something – and it's not something we are trying to keep secret – but here we are, not _knowing…_ " Thoughts of what would happen if her budding romance was cut short threatened to overwhelm her, and she fell back on staring listlessly at her sandwich.

"I understand. I don't blame you at all. It's rare to find something happy in the midst of all this world-saving. Any of the others ask, I'll give you two an alibi."

"I appreciate it," Tiona said, now clearly more at ease. She sat up straighter and her nose began twitching again – the leftover sandwich was still fresh and she was still definitively hungry. Pulling her plate toward herself once more, she shrugged. "I appreciate you not trying to talk either of us out of it."

"Urianger is a man I've come to see as a best friend. But he isn't _fragile_. He can make his own choices, just as you can. You make him smile at the very least. I like that. For all that it's worth, you've done right by him."

She was halfway to picking up her sandwich, but then paused, tilting her head pensively. "... You know that I love him. It's why tomorrow is so terrifying."

"You don't want to lose him."

"I don't want to lose _any_ of you, but – he _understands_ me and I need –" All at once the rava stopped, finally picking up the sandwich and taking a half-hearted bite from her meal, chewing slowly and swallowing before continuing. "I just want us all home. Safely. Hells, I’ll even be sure to _not_ drop the Exarch’s soul vessel if it means it all works. I just want us all to live long enough so that the rest of you _can_ tease us for being lovesick fools."

Thancred regarded Tiona with an even, neutral look. "I know you do. And we all want the same. I have faith that it will all work out."

"He's been rubbing off on you, hasn't he?"

"He _is_ family. Same as you. All will be well, I imagine – and you can count on us keeping bets as to how long it may be before you two wed."

Tiona laughed. "If I knew," she said evenly, "what that meant, I would be able to tell you the odds."

The hyur man looked taken aback at her statement, but simply chuckled and shook his head. "I imagine you've got plenty to do today. I'll not keep you."

“There’s not much,” Tiona said quietly, “We’re picking up documents from the Ocular, and I suppose I’ll keep carrying the Exarch around–” She stopped herself from speaking further, but her mind dwelled on the first of the soul vessels, stuffed haphazardly into her traveling pack that was still in her Pendants room, and on the very real fact that she was in possession of the Crystal Exarch’s soul. The thought of it brought a look of distaste across her face, nostrils flared and twitching rapidly.“Not what I thought I’d be doing,” she admitted after a few seconds’ silence to Thancred, at least relieved that the subject of the conversation had drifted away from her love life. “The past few days have been… odd.”

“Well, don’t forget,” Thancred said, half-risen from his seat, “that _you_ have put your mark on this place just the same. I imagine there are many who would appreciate a farewell from you. Taking the Exarch along is just an added advantage. It’s clear you’ve not much love for him.”

All at once Tiona very hurriedly arranged her face into something more neutral. “Is it _that_ obvious? How I feel about him, I mean.” For all that the Crystal Exarch had done _wrong_ , he had also made amends for it by orders of magnitude. Had events not shaken out the way they had – from the botched summons to the conspiracies and then onto the solutions and victories and salvations – she would be watching the Scions: her close friends, if not outright her _family,_ slowly fall and fade away to nothing. But they would not. That she carried the Exarch in her travelling pack was the proof.

Yet, she couldn’t see the man as anything but the cause of all her problems. And she _knew_ the Scions didn’t feel the same way. “I… I didn’t mean to be rude.”

“You dislike him as obviously as you care for Urianger. So… yes, it is obvious. But, truly, Tiona: going and doing what it is that _you_ thought was a sendoff for yourself and just _happening_ to have him in your bag would be enough, I think. You’ve done enough. Nobody blames you for how you feel. We just… feel differently about it.”

“That is _remarkably_ mature of you to say,” Tiona’s voice drew high as she snickered. “You _have_ become a total _parent_ , you know?” Suddenly she held up her hand, motioned Thancred back down onto the stool he’d been in the process of vacating. “... I _do_ hope _you’ll_ be spending some time with Ryne while Urianger and I – oh, _don’t_.”

At the mention of Urianger, the hyur man was clearly suppressing a smile, and his eyebrows quirked suggestively in her direction as he sat back down. “Don’t _what_?”

“Oh, _gods_ , it’s not like we’re going to bugger around all day –” She watched Thancred’s face change entirely, his smile even out and his brows relaxing into a more serious expression. Tiona let out a helpless sigh, knowing she’d walked right into it. Making people _talk_ was certainly her fellow gunbreaker’s other specialty.

“Ah. So it _is_ that serious.”

“Yes. It is. But anyway, I hope you spend your time with her.”

“Aye, we’ve made some plans. We’ll be off to Amh Araeng shortly –” With a chuckle, Thancred hoisted himself to his feet, adjusting the gunblade on his back and reaching into his pockets. He frowned. “Though apparently _not_ before doing some chores –”

Tiona stuffed the remainder of the sandwich into her mouth and, still chewing, held up a finger in the hyur’s direction. “I think I have some in my coinpurse –” Her cheeks were bulged and her nose twitched faster as she breathed through it, leaning over to fiddle around in her smaller personal satchel, eventually producing an ammunition bag. “I make enough to share, if you’re looking for shot.”

“Very kind of you.” He looked both relieved and embarrassed at the gift, and Tiona smiled at him, her ears perking in his direction.

“I might be more dashing than you are, but I’m not going to _not_ help you if you’re in a bind. I’ll keep an eye on Ryne, too, you know. I plan to visit from time to time. The… time thing should make it easy.”

Thancred’s response was a bit of a rakish smile in Tiona’s direction, but he otherwise said nothing further about it. “We’ll see you on the morrow.”

“Of course.” She watched the man stride off down the stairs and through the markets, and then onto his last goodbyes. It had been five years for Thancred, to hear him tell it, and she knew full well how much she’d changed in the same span of time.

But they _had_ to go, or they’d never get the chance to change further, and there was still work to be done back home.

* * *

Tiona was mostly present in the Ocular for moral support and to be an extra pair of hands. Most of the material in the Tower that had been written down was either in Vrandtic script, required a doctorate of Allagan studies to decipher, or was simply beyond her reading level. Occasionally she’d stretch to reach for a tome labelled “aetherical variations on timespace transference” or some sort of stringing-together of words that she knew individually but could not contextualize as a whole.

She spent a few minutes ruminating on what would come tomorrow, and making a valiant effort to not acknowledge the marid in the room – or, more specifically, her travelling bag. Eventually, she and Urianger ended up with a sizeable pile of notes and papers, and one copy of one skinnier tome about whatever it was that she’d shut down deep within the Twinning, and she found herself feeling very pensive as he busied himself at the desk, arranging it for transportation back to the Source with her.

There was no way for her to avoid it anymore. With a sigh, she dug into her pack and pulled out the Crystal Exarch. She found herself _staring_ at the softly glowing crystal in her hands, at its expertly-hewn facets and its practical yet utterly _stylish_ endcaps, and shook her head. “So, I’m _really_ expected to go and give him a second chance on the Source.”

“Dost thou not believe such an act to be a fitting reward for all that the Exarch hath done?”

The ensuing silence was long, and tense, and Tiona simply turned the crystal over in her hands, again and again, lips pursed. She knew that she did not share the other Scions’ affection for the Crystal Exarch, that her frustration with him was a sentiment that was hers and hers alone to contend with. Urianger, to his credit, simply stood, watching her with his usual calm, studious gaze, waiting for her to form an answer.

“I didn’t ask for this.” Shaking her head, she let out a frustrated sigh and stamped her heel against the stone flooring. “Why does he get a second chance after everything he’s put me through? And all that he did to all of _you_?” 

“His sacrifice ensured thy success and his influence granted us the means to even conceive a way home, my bright star. Too, he is scarce the _sole_ person who hath wronged you–”

“That’s not the same, Urianger.”

“Is it not?”

“It’s not. Why did you do what you did?”

“I believed it to be the best thing to do in order to–”

“No. You did it on _his_ say-so. Because he thought concocting a lie was the best tactic.” 

“Thou art….incorrect. T’was still mine own choice.”

“Which you made under duress. I _saw_ it.” She tapped her temple with a finger. “Because apparently one of the eldest and most powerful of primals seems fit to tell me the whole story after the fact. I would have been _happy_ to have risked myself if I knew what his plan was.” Suddenly, the rava was pacing back and forth amongst the stacked tomes. “If I was such a godsdamned inspiration to him, then he ought to have known what I’m about. If killing Lightwardens until I was about to become one myself would send you all home, I would have done it, willingly. There was no need for this _plan._ You know that. And were we back on the Source you would have let me.”

“Nay.” Urianger’s voice grew louder, but not in anger or frustration; merely enough to be heard over her. “Didst thou not see how the meeting between myself and the Exarch concluded? I wronged thee, Tiona, and t’was a thing borne solely of mine own avarice.”

“He told you that you loved me. And then it ended.”

“Such is why I agreed. Pray believe me when I tell thee that I would move the heavens if it meant thy survival. A deception seemeth to be a triviality by comparison.”

The words were coming in a deluge now; Tiona’s voice firm, and cold, and, at least to Urianger, absolutely _frightening_ in their atypical neutrality. “But you _know_ me, Urianger. The Exarch does not. Nor did whoever’s laying in that tower back home now. Your reasons I understand. And you didn’t know all the ways it could have gone wrong. It was the Exarch’s plan, and the Exarch’s job to account for contingencies. I could have been a willing part of it, but instead I went around absorbing Lightwardens like some kind of _tool_ , thinking that it was going to get you home, and not knowing what it would lead to.”

“And I willfully kept that knowledge from thee, beloved.”

Tiona’s heel struck the floor again and she stepped _very_ close to Urianger, her eyes wide and her twitching nose half an ilm from his. “Because he told you it was the only way. Because he knew that if you loved me, you’d do anything to save me.” Her gaze was steely. Not angry, not violent, but absolutely _resolute_. She believed every word she was saying and seemed unwilling to be swayed from her position.

The elezen went stock-still, his own golden eyes trying to focus on one of the tables behind her as he willed himself to match his own resolve to hers. “And I am no better than he,” came his insistence. “I am not entitled to be the steward of thy agency merely because I hold thee in mine heart.”

“You’ve more of a right than he. And that’s why I forgive you. And it’s why I can’t bring myself to care even a little about what becomes of _him_.”

“I understand thy misgivings; however, as thou hast insisted, I _know_ thee, and thou art not the type of woman to leave matters half-finished. At the very _least_ we must needs secure the Crystal Tower on the Source, and in order to accomplish such, thou wilt need the vessel that beareth the Exarch’s soul. And it would require that we rouse his counterpart there just the same. If nothing else, the boon thou shalt give the Exarch’s counterpart shall be a byproduct of thy true intentions.”

Tiona sighed, and in that moment, this argument of theirs was instantly deflated. “You’re right. It’s the right way to finish the job. And you know me _too_ well.”

Urianger offered a warm smile, and handed her the sizable sheaf of collated parchments, tied together in an elegant bundle with bright red twine. “These will be all I shall require from here. Most of the research hath already been assembled and is awaiting us in Lydha Lran.”

“It’s strange,” Tiona said, suddenly pensive, sticking the somewhat now literal Crystal Exarch in her bag and taking the packet in both hands, hugging it against her chest, “to think that maybe I’ll go back there, but that soon enough, you won’t be _able_ to. Funny, really. I associate that whole damn place with _you_ now.”

“Ah, ‘tis a mutual feeling,” he said, stepping close and drawing her into his arms, the sheaf of paper becoming awkwardly sandwiched between them both. “Though, the hour groweth late. Perhaps we should make our way back.”

Tiona looked around at the gold-and-blue walls and nodded. “...we should.”

* * *

At last, it was done. She’d put the final memento of Ardbert back in the claws of the being who deserved to have it the most, she’d done one last round of games and pretended to gag over one last pot of tea, and now here she and Urianger were, facing their last night in Il Mheg.

It had been a process: several attempts and more than a few lusty read-throughs of erotica over the last few sennights, but finally the tomes at Bookman's Shelves had been squared away, and Tiona had been entrusted with collating all of the notes Urianger had taken down about them over the years, to transport home. All that was left out in the cottage were the bed linens and a small picnic basket for their breakfast the next morning. 

They were in the bedroom; Urianger was already in bed, covers drawn up to his waist, watching with worry in his face as she paced around the furniture. Tiona was silent, lips pursed and head bowed, occasionally pausing to stare at the floor, seemingly lost in thought. He wondered for a moment why she wasn’t joining him – with tomorrow creeping closer, her absence beside him and the fact that she wasn’t close enough to touch and love and remember began to send his mind into spirals of over-thinking.

The lack of sound was almost like its own kind of pervasive noise, and he was just about ready to speak to _break_ it when she stopped–

A hollow _thump_ filled the silence, what he now understood to be the sound of her heel hitting the floor in a clear sign of frustration, and then she sighed. "I can't sleep," she said suddenly, crossing the room and sitting on his side of the bed, "because I'm scared. As though if I stayed awake, I could avoid _tomorrow_ and everything that's going to happen–"

Urianger looked at Tiona with a soft smile, reaching to lace his fingers through hers and squeezing her hand gently. "Pray believe me when I say I understand, my bright star. 'Tis unknown territory we shall traverse on the morrow, and I, too, have no shortage of fears." He leaned forward to press his lips against her cheek. "Yet we must believe that the situation will resolveth in a favourable manner." He felt _exactly_ as she did; every word of hers echoed the sentiments in his heart exactly. If he had the capability to slow time, he would slow it here and simply _be_ with her for just a little while longer. Once again they faced the inevitability of time and the inevitability of the unknown. It was a pattern he prayed that they would _break_ once they were all back on the Source (though he knew it wouldn’t; she was still the Warrior of Light and there were still countless problems back home for which she was the only practical solution).

Tiona grinned, though her expression was tinged with a bit of sadness. "I keep thinking what would happen if you didn't remember everything that happened here. If you didn't remember– us."

 _Remember us._ The sound of Emet-Selch's voice and the sight of the sad, relieved smile on the Ascian's face seemed to just appear out of nowhere for a brief, recollective flash in his mind. They had all had promised him they _would_ , and being the sole holder of that legacy would doubtless be a large burden to carry. The thought of her possibly bearing the weight of that promise alone for the rest of her life filled him with a sick dread.

Urianger shifted his fingers until he was cradling her hand in both of his, his thumbs rubbing along the back of it. "It is a possibility, however slight. The work done by myself, the Exarch, and Beq Lugg seemeth to be correct in its execution."

"How likely is it that you're going to forget about me, Urianger?" Her voice carried a slight edge of apprehension. 

This was the question that he could not answer for her. And the question that cut him to the core. He knew what he wanted the answer to be and he wished he could reassure her and tell her that he would _never_. 

But he had promised her the _truth_ , and he would give it to her for the rest of his life, even if there was a possibility that that would only be several more hours. He would rather die immediately than make what might be her last memories of him a lie. "I know not," he said, his voice soft with disappointment in his answer. "Truly."

Running the fingers of her free hand through her hair and sweeping her ears back momentarily, Tiona sighed. "I suppose if there's anything that needs to be taken care of on the other side… write it down or something, in case– I'll take it across, and maybe Krile or Tataru can help me work through it–"

The resolve and resignation in her voice made him feel as though he was bidding her farewell. He felt entirely impotent in the face of the situation; there was no longer any secret or theory that he could pull out of the cosmos to affect the outcome. He was a slave to fate in this regard, and despite his time spent studying the works of astrologers, the feeling of having no control disturbed him greatly.

"I have done so, beloved. Worry not. I pray it shall not be needed, but we have all considered contingencies." He looked into her eyes, squeezing her hand once more and then letting go of her, cradling her face in his hands, his fingertips brushing against her cheeks. He leaned in and pressed a kiss to her forehead and then the end of her nose before drawing back. "T'was mine intent to provide these to thee prior to our departure, however–"

"However?" The rava sat up straight, canting her head to one side, nose twitching as she watched him rise from the bed, crossing the room to go rooting through an adventuring pack he'd left on a chair. As she looked, she could see a fairly large scroll sticking out of it; he did not reach for this but instead retrieved a simple wooden box. 

"I had this commissioned for thee; a commemoration of the time we have spent in this place. Pray keep it amongst thine effects, and I bid thee not to open it until thou hast arrived safely home."

For a few heartwrenching seconds Tiona sat there; her head bowed, ears pinned back, shoulders shaking as she fell mostly silent, with only the sharp, emotional edges of her sobs loud enough to be heard. She did not meet his eyes, instead staring resolutely at the floor again and sniffling, hands held out to receive his gift. 

Urianger set it to the side instead and returned to sit beside her, immediately and singularly concerned at how suddenly taciturn she'd become. "Tiona," he said quietly, pulling her into a tight embrace, "t'was not mine intention to upset you so."

It was _alarming_ how she sat there, slouched, not really returning his hug at all and instead just folding her arms in on herself. She was still trembling, still sobbing, and when she looked up at him, the fear and resignation he saw in her crimson eyes, the tears streaming down her face – all of it broke his heart. All he could do was hold her, rocking slightly to-and-fro where they sat. 

"I'm not supposed to _cry_ ," she said weakly after awhile, finally moving her hands to take hold of his face and fixing his gorgeous golden gaze with an earnest look, "because that's not what you need from me. And I _have_ to be what you need me to be, because–"

He lifted a finger, pressing it against her lips, and she lowered her hands from him, sighing at the touch. "Nay. Thou art _thyself_ , in all things woeful or joyous, and it is that for which I love thee the most. Thou art not obliged to _present_ thyself to me in any way other than how would best suit thee. Thou art _already_ , simply by virtue of thine own existence, exactly who I _need._ Thou art possessed of an ability to see through all of my duplicitous actions; thou seemest to _understand_ mine own tendency to push others away, and –” A sad smile blossomed over his face and he rested his forehead against hers. “Thou believeth none of it. And for that, I am eternally grateful. Thou hast never believed me someone unworthy, despite all mine efforts to make myself so.”

“You were _never_ ,” Tiona whispered, blinking rapidly at the tears that continued to well up in her eyes, “ _never_ unworthy. I would put my life in your hands again without hesitation. And tomorrow… I suppose the roles get reversed and I get to carry you, eh?”

“Indeed,” Urianger replied, pulling back to hold her face in his hands, thumbs gently wiping her tears away. “I have all I need from thee; a boon the likes of which I could _never_ repay except to stay at thy side for as long as I am able.”

“You know that eventually we’ll have to tell the other Scions about us.”

“If they have not discerned the love between us yet, then we can correct their ignorance later.” He moved his hands to her shoulders, pulling her into a tight embrace once more.

They sat in silence for a moment or two and then Tiona sighed. “I should stop moping, though – this _could_ very well be our last night.”

“Then we shall endeavour to make it a memorable one, my most beloved, bright star.”

“I never asked. Why do you call me that? I am not bright in any sense of the word –” She placed her hand against his chest, over his _heart_ , her elegant, long-fingered brown hand stark against him. She thought of her difficulties navigating not one, but now two foreign lands with nothing more than the ethereal nature of the Echo to enable her to understand them. “And I’m certainly not a _star_...I suppose I don’t get the metaphor.”

“Hah. Rest assured, Tiona, that thy mind hath a brilliance all of its own… Our plans would not have worked without it. Thou understandest the notion of stars for navigation, the presence of a star that is fixed relative to the northernmost pole?”

He was speaking, and her tears were drying, though the streaks of salt on her face prickled at her skin, and she made to rub them away. “Of course. You can always figure out which way is north. It’s the brightest star in the sk– oh.”

“Behold,” he said with a warm chuckle, “thy brilliance. Such is what thou art for me: a guiding star, bright and noticeable, nestled in darkness yet resolutely _present_ such as to guide a wayward traveller back to where he needeth to reside. Were it to leave the sky, I fear I would be lost.”

“Is that _really_ how you feel?”

Urianger sighed softly, and shifted backward on the bed, laying down and guiding her to do the same, curling around her with his chest pressed to her back. “I promised thee no more lies. I swore it. I shall not throw such a promise aside, and certainly not one that concerns matters of mine heart … and of thine.”

The remainder of the night passed, and not much was said or done – merely the two of them, together, at the end of their time in Il Mheg.

And when the night grew long and Urianger dozed off with his face pressed against her ears, when his rumbling snore tried valiantly to lull her to sleep, Tiona prayed, as fervently as she ever had, that this would not be their true end.

* * *

Not for the first time, Tiona stared into a blinding light, and then the world shifted, and then she wasn’t certain if the last few bells had been her imagination. There had been a wonderful send-off from the Crystarium, and then the soul transfer process had been a ritual that was both faster and more absolute than she thought it would be.

She recalled that she hadn’t dawdled; she had merely nodded a thank-you to Ryne and Beq Lugg, laid the crystals in her pack, hugged it to her chest, and strode through the mirror –

Her vision was still awash with the artifacts of the portal’s blinding light as she stumbled back out into the Mor Dhona wilderness, allowing herself only to think that _she had them_ , they were right here, and, with luck, soon it would be all right. 

Her pack was still in her arms as she _ran_ down stairs, and past wildlife and over aether-soaked stones, willing herself not to stop, not to greet _anybody_ lest she get mired in needing to do yet another errand or have another chat with somebody. There would be time for those things later. Right now, she was on a mission.

The regulars at the barfront of The Seventh Heaven raised their mugs in recognition as she threw open the doors, and certainly her _ears_ must have at least tipped in their direction, but she was not of a mind to pay it any attention, merely dodging kitchen staff and waitresses to reach the back door and the entrance into the Rising Stones proper.

“I _have_ them,” she cried as she emerged at the end of the corridor, noticing Krile and Tataru debriefing about something near the reception desk. Skidding to a halt in front of the two lalafell, she looked down, chest heaving as she tried to catch her breath. “All of them. They’re here. We shouldn’t wait.” And then she was off, turning toward the door to Dawn’s Respite, to finally do what she’d set out to do – to bring her family home.

It wasn’t even possible to muse on how _long_ it had been, but she reached into her pack and pulled out the first of the vessels. She remembered, now, there had been a brief conversation before she left the Crystarium, about how to discern each of the vessels. Tiona had suggested labels. Beq Lugg had suggested _intuition_.

Thus, she was already pulling one vessel out of her pack as she crossed the threshold, and immediately brought the souls back in proximity with each of the corporeal forms. Intuition, it seemed, was the best course of action – Tiona found that she did not hesitate, except to linger between the feet of the cots occupied by both Thancred and Urianger.

It _had_ to work. She had no idea what would come next if it didn’t. She wanted to close her eyes, to pray, to _will_ it to happen, but Tiona also knew that she had to see it happen with her own eyes. In turn, it did – the souls pulsated, shining bright in the dark of the infirmary before suffusing their homes with colour, and motion, and –

And then Tiona’s world seemed to shift in a blaze of novel sounds and sights:

A groan from one of the cots. Her ear swiveled to catch it, and the rest of her followed suit. “Did it –? Are we –?” Alisaie’s voice. And then Alphinaud, beside her, quiet but otherwise _awake_. The others beginning to stir where they’d lain for… had it been sennights? Moons? It had worked. The Crystal Exarch had taken a wholly theoretical gamble and _it had worked_.

Thancred was moving like he was elderly, groaning heavily as he pushed himself upright, staring at his hands and moving his fingers experimentally. “We’re home.”

Tiona was familiar with definitive, life-changing moments; of times when feelings or information slotted into place and locked into one’s soul, but this one was proving to be a little overwhelming. Her eyes were swimming with tears and all she could do was nod at Thancred.

Tataru, by comparison, saw fit _not_ to hold anything back, immediately bursting into tears and joyfully commenting: “You’re back– you’re _all_ back!”

Y’shtola let out a sigh, sitting up and stretching as though she’d awoken from a long nap. “Thank you. My body feels like a sack of popotoes, but otherwise I have never felt better. That said, I doubt any of us will be fit to travel for some while. May we leave the rest to you?”

Tiona just offered a genial shrug in Y’shtola’s direction, a hand covering her mouth as she made her way to Urianger’s bedside. He, too, seemed to be taking his time to sit up, but she approached, lowering her hand to rest fingertips on the back of the elezen’s hand. He was positively _beaming_ at her, and there was so much _more_ she wanted to do, but they had no privacy, and Y’shtola was right: they hadn’t quite finished the job.

“I’m going to go,” she whispered to him. “I know I need to go.”

He nodded, his warm golden eyes now something complete and tangible and as permanent as a worldly life could ever hope to be. “The vessel beareth our comrade's blood. With it in thy possession, the way will surely open before thee.”

“I don’t _want_ to go,” was all she could whisper, as though if she took her eyes off of him, or off of any of them, they’d disappear from her life again. “But I’m going to.”

“As Y’shtola hath said – we are not fit for much except to recover. Go. Thou wilt find me once thou hast need of me.”

Tiona nodded, the tears falling freely from her eyes, and took off again, leaving a handful of chuckling Scions and a shrilly confused Tataru in her wake. Once more she ran and ran and _ran_ , up the staircases, clutching the final vessel in her hands, only pausing when her memento from the Seat of Sacrifice bounced out of her pocket and against the crystalline floors of the tower.

She stared at it. Was it a memento of what she truly had once been, or was it a reminder of the torch that had been passed to her by eternal hands that had finally failed? She hadn’t asked for any of it, as she’d told Urianger when her fear was getting the better of her. Perhaps she was not the right person to do it. But the legacy of doing right by others, of doing what was best so the world could continue to move forward–

It had only been possible via the Crystal Exarch. Stowing the orange stone (safely, this time) back into her pockets, she sighed. She knew this to be the case, but even now, even after the culmination of all his grandiose plans, she could not bring herself to care. In fact, when she came upon his body in stasis, her first instinct was not to relinquish his soul, but perhaps to bare hers to him _now_ , before the words would cause hurt or conflict.

“I wish you hadn’t done any of it. I know this all had to happen. But you _ruined my life_ , and I’m not even sure I want to do this for you.” He looked like the Exarch, but much younger, and no longer made in part of minerals – in fact, he was just as the expedition to the Tower years before had described him.

“I wish you’d been good enough to do your job _properly_ and not endangered them. My family. I know I needed them at my side. But their lives were at stake, twice over, and you – you –”

Her fingers curled around the softly glowing spirit vessel that she was holding in both hands. “I should be back in Mor Dhona, finally touching the _actual body_ of the man I’m in love with, but no. He bid me to come here, with this thing, and offer you the choice. I never got _choices_. You took them from me. You took them from _them_.”

“Most of all, though, I wish you hadn’t given up _everything_ to fix what you did to me. To them. This might not even _work_ for you, for all we know. But you did what you said you were going to do, and it _worked._ They’re home, and it turns out you do have the capability to speak truthfully. I wish I wasn’t so absolutely certain that this is the right thing to do.”

Pushing herself to her feet, Tiona approached the slumbering figure. “I will do you this favour, but I swear by any gods that might be listening that you will _never_ have dominion over me or my family ever again.”

She laid the crystal down by the figure’s head.

“So wake up, G’raha Tia. Then we’ll figure out where exactly you’ll stand.”

* * *

The room she kept when she was in Mor Dhona was a rather spartan but warmly-lit space with just enough room for a large bed shoved awkwardly in one corner, a small table, a couple of strongboxes, a fireplace and private washroom: part of a few private rooms available for adventurers, on the floors above the House of Splendors.

It was halfway across the courtyard from the Rising Stones, and up two flights of stairs, and Tiona was so _tired_ and clutching at the paper bag that Rowena had unceremoniously shoved an overpriced pair of pyjamas into that it didn’t even occur to her that, after all the business with the tower and the last soul vessel, she would come into it and find it already half-occupied.

There was no designated desk or reading-nook, but the bed was a four-poster variety with thick linen curtains that were all closed, except for the side that was adjacent to the fireplace and what little floor-space existed. As Tiona fought with her room-key, unlocked the heavy oaken door and stepped through the threshold, her view of the bed was obscured until she drew level with it.

She closed the door behind her and was mumbling to herself as she shrugged out of her armoured boots and her stockings, kicking them unceremoniously to one side; as the heavy coat and gunblade were haphazardly hung on iron hooks welded to the back of the door; as she tried and failed to untie the dark linen breastband tied around her chest. Stripped of everything else, she rattled open the paper bag and fished out the pyjama top and shrugged it on, her ears pinned back and hanging a little more limply than usual as she slowly and clumsily fastened the buttons, leaving the bag and the pants abandoned at the foot of the bed.

Leaving clutter in her wake wasn’t typical of her, but all Tiona wanted to do was reach the bed, and she padded, barefoot, across the mere fulms of space between she and the mattress, and, with a relieved groan –

– collided unceremoniously with Urianger, who was seated atop the covers, quietly thumbing through a tome that was pocket-sized and only _appeared_ to be a few hundred pages long (doubtless it was light reading for him). He was still clad in the simple linen clothing they’d put him in when he’d gone down – certainly it hadn’t been _that_ long ago on this side, but to her it had felt like years.

She felt _guilty_ for not having gone down to Dawn’s Respite upon her return, but she knew she was in no state to confront what had just happened in the tower, that she would doubtless _say_ and _do_ things that she would regret in the morning. Each of the Scions, for their own reason, considered the man who was once the Crystal Exarch to be a valuable ally and close friend, while she most assuredly did _not_ , and she wouldn’t deny them the joyful reunion they wanted. “You know me _too_ well,” she whispered, a familiar refrain, pressing her forehead to his shoulder while she scrambled atop the mattress. “How’d you get _up_ here, anyway?”

His warm chuckle and the sensations of him shifting to put his book to the side, to turn slightly - and very _slowly_ \- to put one arm around her waist and to use the hand of the other to gently stroke at her ears was enough to lull her into closing her eyes, still haphazardly pressed against his form ( _gods_ , here Urianger was, _intact_ and _alive_ and he smelled _very_ different, but still like himself, and she wanted very much to laugh or cry about it, but the exhaustion seemed to permeate her soul and all she could do was simply sit there).

“Thy sojourn into the tower took some time,” he said, his voice low and soft, “and this allowed me plenty of it to make mine own way here.” Angling his head, he laid it upon hers, a soft sigh on his lips. “I fear I may have requested too much of thee, so soon after –”

The rava pulled back. “...no. You told me to _finish_ the work. And now it’s done.” Tiona sat up slightly, raising her head to meet his eyes. “It’s done. No more errant souls, no more loose ends. _That_ man is back here like you all want him to be, and I’m –” She took a deep breath. “I’m just _tired_ , but how are _you_?” 

“I am more languid than I would otherwise be, and it would seem that I tire more easily than I did before. We all are in the same state, though Krile hath assured us that it shall prove to be a temporary one.” As if to prove the point, Urianger attempted to push himself a little more upright, to sit up against the pillows, but it was a slow, deliberate process, and Tiona watched with wide red eyes, hovering, despite her own fatigue, to provide assistance were it needed.

She let herself smile when he settled down again without any apparent distress. “You ran away from the infirmary to meet me…”

“Wherefore would I _not_? I had a feeling thou wouldst seek solitude after the journey, yet wish for me to be near. As thou sayest, I know thee _too_ well, my bright star.” There was warmth and relief in his eyes as he kept them trained on Tiona, and with the slow deliberation that his time in stasis had forced upon him now, he leaned forward and reached out with his long fingers to tip her chin up and deal her a slow, soft kiss that she returned in kind. “Rest assured that I have _not forgotten_ , and that I still love thee.”

There was a soft half-snort as Tiona laughed, just briefly, through her nose. “Love you too. I knew that you were going to be fine when you opened your eyes but… thank you for reassuring me about it.” The laughter had borne a smile, and her ears were starting to perk back up, even if her eyes were droopy and had bags under them. “Will you be cross with me if I sleep?”

“Nay,” he whispered, grinning as she wriggled her way under the covers and he followed in kind, although several seconds behind as he willed his stiff legs to bend and flex. “Tis been a long day for us both, beloved.”

“It has.” Tiona rolled over in the bed to face him, shifting closer so that she was cuddled up alongside him, her hand laid gently on his chest. No more was said; but being close to him like this and _knowing_ that now all was as it should have been from the start, and feeling his arm eventually wind around her waist, was enough to lull her to sleep.

* * *

When Tiona woke up, she realized that they’d both rolled over in the night and now Urianger was cuddled up against her back and the same arm around her waist. For a few moments, she blinked a little – it was truly the morning; the sun was streaming in through the window, her ears swivelled to catch the birdsong coming from outside, and, it seemed, at least _one_ part of her lover was firmly and doggedly pressing against her back.

Laughing under her breath – after having been in stasis so long, this was _probably_ inevitable – she reached behind herself, brushing the back of her hand against his erection, which had his comfortable linen trousers tented. 

"... Thou art awake," Urianger sighed, gently rocking his hips against her, soft moans catching in his throat. The word that came from him next was growled out in a low, desirous tone while his lips played against the shell of her ear: “ _Good_. Might I –?” He shifted closer when she nodded, to press himself further against her and to gingerly trail a hand around her hip and then northward, his fingertips surprisingly soft against her shivering stomach and nimble as he somehow managed to loosen her linen wrap, wrest it free from under her shirt, and toss it to the side. 

“This is what we _get_ ,” Tiona’s words were cut off with a gasp and a delighted shudder as the surprising softness of his fingers turned into a decisive _grab_ at her newly-freed breast, “for not having a go before we came home–” She hissed slightly as he kneaded his palm into her soft flesh and then, with a graceful gesture, caught her nipple between two knuckles and began to decisively roll it between them until it pebbled in their grip, too stiff to yield further to the contact but still enough to stoke the fire that pooled in her gut. She slipped her hand out from between them and gripped his thigh, pushing back against him by way of encouragement for him to _keep going_. 

He’d figured out her extraordinary sensitivities on their first night together and had spent every night since using them to his advantage. She didn’t mind, but all too often he would wring every orgasm he could from her and leave her so sated and sleepy that she’d miss opportunities to return the favour. It seemed that he was, once again, deciding to proceed with this plan of action. 

“Permit me,” his breath, still fluttering against her ears, interrupted his speech: heavy, sustained pants every time she squirmed against him, “my one selfish desire to finally _touch_ thee with the whole of myself.”

Tiona stilled in his desirous embrace and then immediately shrugged him off to roll over and face him; to look him over with a keen eye even as she came down from where he’d wound her up, with her chest heaving and her face flushed. He was speaking a fundamental truth again, and it gave her pause. “It really _is_ all of you, isn’t it?” she said, teeth digging into her lower lip as she took the upper hand, reaching under his shirt to mirror what he’d done to her. His eyes closed as she traced the lines of his wiry frame, from his navel to his chest, with her fingers. “You _smell_ different,” she admitted, “but this shouldn’t feel any different – and yet it does, doesn’t it?”

She squeezed, gently albeit playfully, at his nipple to punctuate the question, and he _moaned_.

“Oh,” he whispered, either too tired or too aroused to lapse into his usual long-windedness, “it does.”

“Might be worth investigating the _rest_ of me, then?”

"Art thou aiming to have thy way with me, my bright star?" A vague flush was beginning to rise in Urianger's face, but his golden eyes surveyed Tiona with a true, fiery hunger. "If this truly be thine intent, I shall voice no dissent. Though, for the present time, thou wouldst need… " He trailed off, his cheeks now furiously red. He did, however, keep his eyes fixed on Tiona's face, even as he rolled over onto his back, loosening his trousers and pushing them, along with his smalls, halfway down his thighs. The slight roll of his hips as he did so _might_ have been a little exaggerated for effect, and Tiona watched it all. He was still hard as stone and the fire in his eyes flared up at his next words: "Thou wouldst need to take thy rightful place atop me."

She sat up, grinning. “You certainly know what you’re after this morning.”

“Thou wert accurate in thy observation.” His voice pitched down to something even _more_ low and quiet and breathy. He looked more aroused and determined to _do something_ about that arousal than she’d ever seen before: his face flushed, that low and quiet timbre in his voice, and that fiery gaze that showed no signs of abating. “We may have erred in not taking advantage of our last night on the FIrst. Nonetheless...wouldst thou humour me in my request?”

She didn’t make a show of it, but in no time at all she was straddling his hips, deftly using her hands to adjust him to her as she lowered herself down onto his prick. "Uri, of _course,_ " she moaned, the nickname suddenly and unexpectedly falling from her lips for the first time. “Whatever you want from me, you have. I’m _yours_.”

Her words had him devoid of all composure, crying out, head thrown back and his hands moving to grip at the steely curves of her thighs. Tiona found the sight utterly alluring; that Urianger always seemed oddly _free_ when they were like this (and even more so _this_ time), his lack of pretension and abundance of honesty something refreshing, soothing, and–

 _Hers_? It certainly wasn't a side of himself he showed off to the other Scions. Shaking her head, Tiona moved to undo the buttons of her pyjama top, allowing the garment to slide off of her shoulders and pool at her elbows. That seemed to have caught his attention, and he tilted his head down toward her once more, taking in the sight of her now-exposed breasts and the spectacle of her impaled on his prick. He moved his hands from her thighs, ghosting along the soft, dark expanse of her stomach to toy with her again. 

His plan, apparently, had not changed, and his touch was the catalyst that set her to riding him. She was not gentle, not with him acting as the virtuoso on the instrument that was her body, his fingertips bringing her own arousal to a rapid crescendo. Her response to him was just as practiced and just as intentional: she tightened around him and rode him, _claimed_ him. “And you’re _mine_. Aren’t you?”

“By the gods, Tiona– ” Suddenly his hands moved, his arms went around her and he pulled her down into a fierce embrace, his entire body trembling as the tables turned and she was no longer necessarily in control. “ _Yes_. Though – I fear I have waited too long for this. Forgive me.” Bucking his hips in a wild, staccato rhythm, he thrust desperately up into her, and within seconds went to pieces, his lips seeking hers for a deliriously passionate kiss to punctuate his climax. 

"There's nothing to forgive – _oh_." Tiona let out a breathless chuckle as she realized he was utterly spent, his prick slowly softening inside her. "Well, you've not used it in awhile. Don't worry about it." She sat up, intent on rolling off of him, but Urianger shook his head and grasped at her hips once more. 

"Nay," he whispered, shifting his hips to pull himself from her confines and then pulling her forward until her knees rested against the headboard. "If thou sayest thou art _mine_ , then I am at liberty to partake of thee until I am assured of thy satisfaction." He shifted himself a little such that his head was nestled between her thighs, and he glanced up at her, grinning. 

"But you've–" 

"I care not," he murmured, craning his neck to brush his lips across her stiff, prominent clit. “Simply make it clear to me that thou art in love with me, and –”

“Of _course_ I love you.” It was the only thing Tiona could say before he started in on her in earnest: his hands smoothed down the soft blue curls at the apex of her thighs and suddenly it was as though he wished to either devour her whole or drown himself in the effects of both their pleasure. For a moment, she was frozen in place, not keen on smothering him. In the back of her mind, she realized that for all their time on the First, Urianger had never put his mouth to her like this before. “Were you waiting to – oh.” He laved at her clit with the flat of his tongue, he sucked and prodded every part of her that he could reach, and seemed not to care a whit about the fact that both his seed and her slick were going _everywhere_.

He was tugging at her, his eyes skyward and locked on hers, the look acting as a subtle, elegant encouragement for her to move, and when she still didn’t, he pulled back a few ilms, brow slightly furrowed and his whole face an absolute _mess_ , glistening in the dawn’s light. “Doth this not please thee?” He pressed his lips against her thigh, his gaze never faltering from hers.

“No, it’s not that,” she whispered, leaning forward to brace herself against the headboard so that as little of her weight as possible rested on him. “I just… don’t want to hurt you. Not so soon after– ” 

Urianger laughed, but his mouth was still so close to her that the sensation reverberated and she let out a sharp moan as his breath tickled her still-roused sex.. “Take what thou wilt from me, my bright star. I am thine, and I trust thee.” The man had a silver tongue, to be sure, with both his turns of phrase and with the way he then slid between and around her folds.

Truly, she thought to herself, finally relaxing and leaning backwards to put her back into grinding against his face, if he trusted her, he ought to reap the rewards of such.

Which was why, after he had her shattered and gasping and half-climbed up the headboard, she couldn’t help but look down at him through the afterglow and whisper, “Welcome home.”

* * *

The bathtub was only _just_ large enough to hold the two of them and all their associated long limbs, but at least nobody was left glued to anyone else this time. The water was slightly perfumed with the rosewater that always seemed to be on-hand in the room; the House of Splendors seemed willing to give it out for free if it meant adventurers smelled nice, Tiona figured.

“I have an odd question to ask,” Tiona said, her left ear held down in front of her face with one hand while she used the other to scrub at the coarser fur that grew at its tip with a brush. “May I?”

Urianger tilted his head from where he was otherwise simply lounging in his end of the tub, his fair skin reddened slightly from the warm water. He offered her a gentle smile, chuckling when she stuck her tongue out in concentration while combing the fur back in place. “Of course, beloved. Pray, speakest of what is on thy mind.”

She let go of her ear and it naturally went back to its usual vertical orientation, sending a gentle splash of water in his direction. He spluttered as the arc of it caught him square in the face, then dissolved into hearty laughter. 

"Well, I'm surprised that you're alright with getting into _this_ large body of water–" At this Urianger was laughing so hard that tears were starting to form at the corners of his eyes, and Tiona just stared at him. "But honestly. I didn't think we'd get this far, and… what are we doing? Now that neither of us is facing imminent death?"

For a moment, the elezen tried to school his features into something serious, but it failed, and he dealt her a broad, besotted grin. "I find myself wondering, my bright star, what precisely I have done to deserve all of thy care."

"You can't be _serious._ " Now she was laughing. "I could rattle off several reasons. And I have. You _know_ that I mean every word I say when I fuck you."

"Ah, so thy passion revealeth thy truth," he said slyly. 

"I've made you come so hard you had _visions_ ," she retorted, "so clearly," and at this point the rava took her right ear in hand, flipping it down and in front of her face to start scrubbing at it, "clearly we're both being honest."

"Art thou?"

"Are _you?_ " Tiona smirked at him with one eye locked on his face, the other obscured by the large appendage that she was cleaning. "I'm _really_ not half as smart as you. Sometimes I don't understand how you considered me–"

Urianger's relaxed grin turned a touch serious. "My stance on _that_ hath never changed. I have known for quite some time that thou _art_ possessed of a brilliance all thine own, Tiona. We are all proud of thy exploits and are honoured to fight at thy side. All that thou hast done for all of us – all of it is borne of a curiosity and tenacity that rivaleth even mine own. Much and more we truly do have in common. Our differences art merely superficial, and hardly at all irreconcilable. Prithee, do _not_ continue to view thyself as inferior to the rest of us."

She was in the middle of scrubbing and could feel the heat in her cheeks, actively flustered at his compliments. "Well, now I have _nothing_ further to say. Because you're just as brilliant and beautiful and you seem to _see_ me in a way nobody else does. You’re patient, and you’re kind, and I – well, you were easy to fall for." It was a poignant moment, and she brought all her scrubbing to a halt. "I suppose it still feels unreal. Like we're still hanging onto the edge of death."

She let go of her ear at the exact moment he floated over to her, and it caught him straight in the jaw. 

"My dear," he said, laughing once more and sweeping the errant ear up and out of the way before scooping her up into his arms, sending water everywhere all over the stone floor, "it is all too real. And I am _ever_ so glad that it is. Did I not promise thee, moons and moons ago, that I would remain at thy side for always?"

"... You might have said something to that effect." Tiona was blushing furiously in his embrace, hiding her ruddy face against his shoulder. 

"I spoke no falsehoods then, even with so many uncertainties ahead. We can now _have_ what we have so long desired."

"I'm _awful_ at romance, you know."

Urianger chuckled, pressing his lips to her forehead. "Then it is very fortuitous that I care not about such things. I would rather have it be a simple thing: that I bring as much joy to thee as thou hast given me."

“There’s been nothing _but_ joy.”

**Author's Note:**

> Well. It took almost a year, but this big beast of an idea is complete. For the first damn time in my life I have completed a story, so this is pretty big for me.
> 
> You might notice one plot point that's been left dangling, and I will resolve it in a separate epilogue which I'll be working on soon. I hope everyone enjoys reading this as much as I did making it, even though events in 2020 meant that it took so long, between real world events and patch delays.
> 
> (Now I'm going to exploit the time bubble and write more one-offs of the time between patches 5.3 and 5.4, a break which will last precisely as long as I need it to!)
> 
> I wanna thank a bunch of folks; all those at [Emet-Selch's Book Club](https://discord.gg/enabling-debauched-xivfic) almost a year ago who offered encouragement and enthusiasm; all the writers I've met over the past year on Twitter and Discord (including my clarity checkers Draya and VicTheSpookyGoat). My mantra is always that I'm writing for me, but to see folks reading along and enjoying my stuff is important, too.


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